


marginally better than being caught under a fallen building

by Saral_Hylor



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Fluff, M/M, Mistletoe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-25
Updated: 2015-01-25
Packaged: 2018-03-08 23:25:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,373
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3227450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Saral_Hylor/pseuds/Saral_Hylor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Given history, Tony wasn't entirely sure if he was a fan of Christmas or not. Growing up there had been the Stark Christmas Parties, that first he'd been in awe of, then despised, and then eventually hosted himself. <br/>That had changed though, Lots of things had changed. Christmas the year before had been explosive. Literally. <br/>So, Christmas this year, Tony decided, was going to be more low-key. It was just him and the Avengers Tower. The decidedly empty Avengers Tower.</p>
            </blockquote>





	marginally better than being caught under a fallen building

**Author's Note:**

  * For [quandong_crumble](https://archiveofourown.org/users/quandong_crumble/gifts).



> So this was going to be my Christmas fic. For quandong_crumble. It is still for her, and it is still a Christmas fic... It's just a month late...

Given history, Tony wasn’t entirely sure if he was a fan of Christmas or not. It hadn’t been a big thing when he was growing up. Sure, there were the annual Stark Christmas Parties, for all those rich and famous people who either didn’t want spend Christmas with their family, or didn’t want to be alone. They were big, full of people and noise and faux cheer. Tony had grown up being at first in awe of them, then despising them, and then eventually hosting them himself.

That had changed though. Lots of things had changed. Christmas the year before had been explosive. Literally.

So, Christmas this year, Tony decided, was going to be low-key. No huge party. No giant rabbit. And no taunting self proclaimed terrorists into blowing up his house.

It was just him and the Avengers Tower. The decidedly empty Avengers Tower.

Thor was off learning the joys of Christmas with Jane and Darcy. Clint and Natasha were off “not on a mission from SHIELD” (yeah, he didn’t believe that for a second), Bruce was off feeding orphans in Third World Countries, or letting the Hulk wear a Santa suit, or something.

And Steve had said something about visiting Peggy in the nursing home and maybe seeing his ex-spy/ex-neighbour/now-government super sleuth “she’s not my girlfriend, Tony” (not that Tony believed that for a second either).

So, him, an empty tower and three bots fighting over the one Santa hat (he really should have bought more).

Until it wasn’t just him and three bots and one tattered and stretched Santa hat, and his empty tower was suddenly infiltrated with a “you are my family, idiot” from Pepper, a “you’re technically paying me to drive her and have a good time” from Happy and a mumbled “mum said you ignored her invite over, so she told me to come kick your butt so hard you won’t dare ignore her invite next year” from Rhodey.

And it almost seemed like it wasn’t going to be such a bad Christmas after all. Sure, they didn’t have half the food organised, but Pepper had had the foresight to get turkey sandwiches on the way over, and a carton of eggnog. Happy had a packet of bonbons and a sprig of mistletoe he stuck above the kitchen doorway. And Rhodey had (God bless her) one of his mum’s Christmas puddings and a carton of brandy custard, both of which had survived the flight over in War Machine (yes, he was still refusing to call it by its other name. It was a stupid name.)

The night progressed fairly well. It was like old times. Kinda. Well, it was him and Rhodey hanging out and getting decidedly not drunk. But there was the added bonus or Pepper and Happy and Roberta’s awesome Christmas pudding (because that couldn’t be forgotten).

As the night wore on, Pepper’s shoes were discarded, Happy ended up snoring on the couch, and somehow Tony found himself caught in that really awkward side step shuffle as both he and Rhodey tried to get through the kitchen door at the same time.

Rhodey grinned sheepishly, balancing a stack of plates on one hand and trying to edge his way around Tony. “That was bad timing.” 

“My timing is never bad, sugarplum, everything about me is entirely too perfect.” Tony countered, the doorframe jammed in between his shoulder blades.

Pepper cleared her throat, and, without even looking away from the crappy Christmas movie that was playing on the TV, pointed at the top of the door. Right at the spot where Happy had stuck the mistletoe.

Tony glanced up at the mistletoe and then back at Rhodey and shrugged. “And that wasn’t a line, by the way.”

Pepper cleared her throat again, as if they might have forgotten exactly where they were standing. Tony shrugged again, because shrugging worked. Shrugging was non-committal and casual and was a good way to mask the fact that his heart was beating too fast and too unsteady and Jesus Christ, he was a grown man, he shouldn’t be getting so worked up over the idea of kissing someone.

But it wasn’t just someone. It was Rhodey. Rhodey. His best friend. Who he’d had a massive crush on when they were at MIT together. But that was years ago. And nope, there was no way that was even a factor still.

Besides, he was Tony Stark. He was allowed to kiss people and get away with it and it not mean a thing. Genius, billionaire, playboy and all of that. 

Rhodey wouldn’t really meet his gaze, it just made everything all the more awkward, but if there was anything that Tony could do it was bluff and bravado.

“The lady’s right, platypus, gotta go with tradition.” He quirked an eyebrow, flashed a smile and stepped forward so he was well and truly in Rhodey’s space. That close he knew he was committed and couldn’t back out. He settled one hand on the back of Rhodey’s neck, rocked forward onto his toes and pressed their lips together.

He faltered at the last minute, almost chickened out, and the kiss ended up being a lot more cautious and a lot softer than he’d planned it to be.

He pulled back, hand still on Rhodey’s neck, feeling wobbly and knowing that he couldn’t blame the non-alcoholic eggnog. Rhodey was looking at him, serious and maybe borderline questioning, probably able to read every thought that was going through his head at that point in time, the main one being “why the fuck haven’t we ever done this before.” But Rhodey knowing what he was thinking was dangerous. Thoughts like that were dangerous. So he did what he did best, faked it ‘til he made it. 

Squeezing the back of Rhodey’s neck, he smirked, letting go to pat him on the cheek twice. “Not such a hardship was it, darling?” 

All he got as a frown in response as Rhodey stepped further into the kitchen.  Typical, he finally managed to kiss Rhodey, while sober and completely sound of mind, and he still managed to stuff it up. 

The plates clunked down on the sink, the sound loud and jolting and Tony looked up in time to see Rhodey stepping back across the kitchen towards him with purpose. He tried to think of something to say, to deflect and distract, but his mind kept coming up blank. And it never did that. Ever. But there wasn’t time to worry about that too much, because Rhodey was in his space, one hand curling around his hip, the other pressed against the side of his neck, thumb against the underside of his jaw and the wall cold against his back. 

“You said that out loud, stupid.” Rhodey whispered, and he wanted to ask exactly what he had said, but then his mouth was otherwise occupied. 

Not that he was complaining. 

 

///

 

It was the second of January when Tony realised that some of the other Avengers had started to filter back into the tower again. He might have been too preoccupied by the fact that Rhodey had agreed to stick around until after New Years, and they’d spent a fair bit of that time catching up and hanging out and there might have been a fair helping of kissing and possibly even sex as well. It had been a distracting few days anyway.

So, Tony thought he could be forgiven for not knowing that Steve had returned to the tower, or that Steve had brought Sam with him. Not that Tony minded, he liked Sam. Sam could fly and didn’t have super powers or a magic hammer. So, yeah, Sam was cool.

And Sam also had Steve pinned against the kitchen door frame, hands on his hips and one thigh wedged between Steve’s legs and was kissing him like it was going out of fashion.

Mistletoe. He knew he’d forgotten to take that down.

By the way that Steve appeared to be cradling Sam’s face in his hands, Tony figured that Cap probably wasn’t too opposed to the action.

And in future, when Steve said Sharon wasn’t his girlfriend, Tony thought it’d be best to probably believe him.


End file.
